Nut-castellating machine



March 24, 1925. 1y530,974

L. BARBER NUT CASTELLATING MACHINE Filed Deo. 5, 1921,

5 Sheets-Sheet l illu March 24, 1925.

L. BARBER NUT GASTELLATING MACHINE Filed Dec. 5, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 24, 1925. ,530,974

L.BARBER NUT CASTELLATI NG `MACHINE Filed Dec. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet o GG J l Patented Mar. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT (OFFICE.

LOUIS BARBER, OF CLVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE NATIONAL SCBEW AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

NUT-CASTELLATING MACHINE.

Application mea December 5, '1921. serial no. 519,909.

To all whom it may cmwcr'n:

Be it known that I, Louis BARBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Nut-Castellating Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to nut castellating machines, and particularly to an automatic feed for such machines. In its more specie aspect the invention is an improvement over the machine invented jointly by Emmett L. Filson and myself, patented August 9, 1921, rra-1,387,092. A

In the machine patented as above stated, the nuts are castellated by a punch co-operating with a die, the die extending through the bore of a blank and having a slot to accommodate the punch, and the punch punching the metal out of the blank from the outside inward. In said machine, the blank is carried from the bottom of a magazine to a rotary blank holder by a carrier carrying the die at its forward end, the die bein extended through the bore of the blank an having its forward end supported on a stationary anvil when the blank is positioned in the holder. are thus positioned, the nut is castellated by a series of rapid strokes of the punch, the holder being turned or indexed following each punching operation. After a nut is castellated by the necessary number of strokes of the punch, the blank is removed lfrom the holder and stripped from the die, if it has a tendency to stick thereto, and another blank is shifted by the carrier to castellating position in the holder.

In the machine shown in said patent, and in other types of castellating machines used commercially, the operation of removing the castellated blank and feeding a new blank into the holder is done manually, by the operator throwing a hand lever or equivalent device. This requires a separate operator for each machine, and in order that the machine may be worked to capacity and may do good work, the operator must operate the lever at precisely the right moment, after the completion of the last punching stroke for each blank, and this requires considerable skill and constant attention on the part When the blank and die of the operator in properly timing the strokes of the hand lever and 1n operating it each time with suflicient rapidity. Furthermore, as far as I amaware, in all other types of nut castellating machines, the blanks are fed by hand in a manner someyvhat similar to that described above, or in a more laborious manner, and hence such machines are open to the same objection as that above explained.

The object of the present invention is to provide for nut castellating machines mechamsm whereby the removal of the castellated blanks and the feeding of blanks to be castellated are done automatically, thus` doing f away with the necessity of a separate operator for each machine, and rendering the machines more certain and-reliable in their action by eliminating from the removing and feeding operations the human element, which involves the possibility of incorrect timing of these operations.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction, and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings wherein I have shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 is a side view of the machinewith parts in section, omitting the upper part of the machine; Fig. 2 is a side view on a slightly reduced scale, showing also the top of the machine, the machine being viewed from the opposite side to that shown in Fig. 1; Fig. Sis a front view looking toward the left of vFig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional.

top of which is a crank shaft 13 which operates a vertical slide 14 carrying at the bottom -a punch 15 which is given rapid vertical strokes to punch the slots ina flange of each of the nut blanks while the latter is supported in a rotary holder 16, sultably supported. on the base of the punch press, or on a bolster plate 17 thereon. The rotary blank holder 16 is turned a predetermined portion of a revolution, preferabl one-sixth of a revolution at each stroke o the ress, the turning or indexing mechanism eing operated by an arm 18 carried by the slide 14 and adapted to engage a pivoted lever 19 supported on the base of the press and carrying a pawl 2O adapted to engage ins projecting from the face of the rotary ho der as more fully shown and described in the patent above referred to.

The blanks are fed one at a time from a magazine 21, carried by a bracket 22 bolted to the base of the press, the-blanks being carried forwardly from the bottom of the magazine into the rotary holder 16 by a horizontal reciprocating carrier 23, the crosssection of which preferably is the same as.

the cross-section of the blanks to be castellated, and generally, though not necessarily, hexagonal. At the forward end of the carrier is a die 24 adapted to be extended through thebore of the blank and to project slightly beyond the blank when the carrier is moved forwardly to advance the blank into the rotary work holder, this die, as explained in the'prior patent, having a slot to accommodate the bottom of the punch. y

When the carrier has been moved forward so as to position the blank in the work holder, as shown in Fig. 1, the forward end of the die 24 rests on a stationary anvil 25, mounted on a block 26 supported on the base of the press, this anvil being open at the top, or formed with a slot with an inclined bottom down along which the punchings may slide.

A knock-out device or ejector consisting of a piece 27, lying in front of the anvil 25,- and carried at the forward end of a pair of guide rods 28 slidable through the anvil on opposite sides of the middle part which supports the front end of the die 24, and connected together by a rear cross-piece 29, is designed to be moved forwardly at the completion of the series of strokes necessary to castellate the nut blank, to eject the blank from the work holder when the carrier 23 is moved back to pick up a new blank, this ejector being moved forwardly by a sliding bar 30 and being designed to be moved rearwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1 by the new blank as it is shifted from the magazine into the rotary work holder 16.

As before stated, in the patent above re-v ferred to, the carrier and ejector are operated by a hand lever adapted to be shifted by the operator at the completionjof each Series of punching operations which castellate the nut blank. The present invention eliminates this hand lever and the necessity for the manual operation of the carrier and ejector, and the present improvements will now be explained.

On one end of the crank shaft or power shaft 13, at the top of the press, I provide a dpinion 32 which engages a gear 33, mounte on a shaft 34 supported on theupright portion 12 of the frame of the press. An important relation exists in the relative sizes of the pinion and ear, this relation depending upon the num er of slots which are cut in each nut blank by the punch. When the blank is to have six slots cut into it, as 1s generally the case, the ratio of the pinion and gear is 7 to 1, that is to say, the gear will be given one complete rotation during seven rotations of the pinion, this being provided in order that the blankv shifting mechanism may be idle during six strokes of the punch and may then operatev the carrier and ejector during the idle seventh stroke.

The shaft 34 on which the gear 33 rotates, is provided with a cam 35 having a raised point 35, the periphery of the cam being engaged b a roller 36 carried by an arm 37 on a sha 38, suitably supported by the upright portion of the press, and extending inwardly and behind the slide. This shaft is provided at its inner end with an arm 39 to which is adjustably connected a rod 40 extending downwardly on the rear side of the (press. The lower end of this rod is connecte to an arm 41'on a shaft 42 supported at the lower rear part of the press and provided at its inner end with an arm 43 which swings in a vertical plane at the rear of the press and centrally thereof. To the lower end of this arm is pivotally connected a rod 44 which extends forwardly through the bottom of the pre, and at its front end vis connected to the bottom of a lever 45 in the form of a pair of parallel straps which straddle a bracket46 projecting forwardly from the base of the press, to which bracket the lever 45 is pivotallyY connected by a pair of short links 47. The forward top portion of this bracket constitutes a support for the outer end of the blank carrier 23. The lever 45 projects upwardly on opposite sides of the blank carrier 23, and is pivotally connected thereto at 48. Below this point 48 the lever is provided with a transverse pin 49 to which is connected at one side of the lever, the forward end of a rod 50 which extends rearwardly to one side of the center plane of the press, and near its rear end is pivotally connected to a forked arm 51 notchedat its upper end, with the notched part engaging a pin 52 carried by the slide 30 which moves the ejector forwardly. In the machine shown,

ing rod 50 are positively retracted through the action of the cam 35 on the roller 36, and the parts are moved in the reverse direction by a spring 53 which as here shown is connected at one end to the bed of the machine and at its other end to the bottom of lever arm 43. This spring also serves to cause the roller 36 to follow the point 35a of cam 35 and elevates the arm37 as the roller passes the highest point of the cam.

vThe machine'above described, operates as follows:

Assuming that a nut blank has been positioned in the .work holder, the punch makes a series of rapid downward strokes slotting the nut blank which is rotated with the work holder the necessary amount after each punching operation. At the completion of the series of punching strokes, six in this instance, and during the idle seventh stroke,

(due to the 7 to l ratio between the pinion 32 y and gear 33) the point or raised part 35a of the cam comes into play, rocking the arm 37 downward while a spring 53 immediately raises the arm 37 when the point of the cam passes the roller, this taking place in somewhat less than one-seventh of the rotation of the gear 33, and during one stroke of the press which is an idle stroke. As the arm 37 is swung downward by the cam it elevates the arm 39, pulls up o n the rod 40, rocks the arms 41 and 43, and pulls back on the rod 44. This rocks the lever 45 and pulls back the carrier 23 and the rod 50. The effect of this is to bring the carrier back to a position such that the die at the front end thereof is forward of the lower end of the magazine slot, and the forward movement of the rod 50 causes the ejector to eject the blank from the work holder. Then as the roller 36 and arm 37 swing upward as the point of the cam passes the roller, the movements of these parts are reversed, and the carrier moves another blank into the rotary blank holder and resto-res the ejector to its previous position. In the interval between the forward or outward stroke of the carrier and die and the rearward or inward stroke, the punch makes its seventh or idle stroke, and before the next stroke of the punch the new blank has been positioned in the rotary work holder, whereupon the series or succession of castellating strokes is repeated. That is to say, between the sixth working stroke and the seventh or idle stroke the carrier is retracted and the castellated blank is ejected, and immediately after the seventh or idle stroke, and before the beginning of the first stroke of the next series anew blank is positioned in the work holder. The timing of the movements of the ejecting and feeding means so that an idle stroke of the punch occurs just before a new blank is inserted inthe rotary work holder is of im portance in machines operated at an efficient speed, for in machines in which 4I have enibodied the present invention a complete down and up stroke of the punch is made in less than one-third of a second, making it important that an idle stroke occur.

I do not desire to be confinedtothe precise details or arrangment of parts of the automatic feed mechanism herein shown, nor to the application of this mechanism to a cas tellating machine of the type or specific form illustrated in the Barber & Filson patent herein described, as it may be used advantageously with other Castella-ting machines, the feed of which is now hand-operated.v

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a nut castellating machine, a reciprocating punch, a rotary work holder in which blanks to be castellated are placed, means for operating the punch, a' feeding device for feeding blanks to the lwork holder, `and means automatically operated by the punch operating means for actuating the feeding device after each of a series 'of strokes of the punch in excess of the number of strokes utilized to castellate a blank.

2. In a nut castellating machine, a punch, a work holder into which the blanks to be castellated are adapted to be placed, means for turning the' work holder after each punching operation, a feeding device for feeding blanks to be castellated to the work holder, means for operating the feeding de- Vice so as to cause a blank to be inserted in the rotary work holder between the strokes of the punch and after each series of a predetermined number of strokes of the punch, the blank being inserted in the work holder after a stroke which is subsequent to the stroke b which the last punching operation was per ormed on the blank previously operated on.

3. In a nut castellating machine, a punch for punching slots in blanks to be castellated,

a rotary work holder in which the blanks to be castellated are placed, means for operating the punch, means for turning the work holder after each stroke of the punch, an ejector for ejecting castellated blanks from the work holder, a feeding device for feeding blanks to be castellated to the work holder, and means for operating the ejector and feeding device so that a blank is inserted in the work holder after a predetermined number of strokes of the press which is greater by one than the number of strokes utilized in castellating a blank.

i. In a nut castellating machine, a punch for punching slots in blanks to be castel lated,` a rotary work holder in whichthe blank to be castellated are placed, means for operating the punch, means for turning the work holder after each stroke of the punch, and means for causing a castellated blank to be ejected from the work holder following one stroke of the punch .and for causing an uncastellated blank to bc inserted in the work holder following a subsequent stroke 'of the punch.

5. In a nut castellating machine, a punch for punching slots in blanks to be castellated, a rotar)Y work holder in which the blanks to be oastellated are placed, means for turning the Work holder after each punching operation, blank feeding means and blank ejecting means movable laterally in opposite directions, and means for automatically actuating the feeding means and ejecting moans so as to cause a castellated `blank to be ejected from the work holder by a. movement in one direction and an uneastellated blank to be fed into the Work holder by a movement in the opposite direction.

G. In a nut castellating machine, a punch, "i

a work holder into which the blanks to be castellated are adapted to be placed, means for turning the work holder after each punching operation, a die having a part adapted to extend into the bore of the blank and Serving to support the blank in the work holder during the punching operation, and

nleans for automatically shifting the die in an endwise direction after a predetermined number of punching operations.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto a-Hix my signature.

LOUIS BARBER. 

